Lawyer Who Lost Case Loses Job Too

ST. LOUIS – The lead attorney for Metro, the city’s main transit agency, stepped down Friday, a week losing a landmark case in a St. Louis County courtroom.

M. Celeste Vossmeyer, 46, has been Metro’s top lawyer since 2003 and earned $136,500 a year. On Nov. 30, Metro lost its lawsuit in the longest civil trial in St. Louis County history. Metro sought $81 million from four companies for delays on Metro’s Metrolink expansion project. The jury awarded $2.56 million for uncompensated costs to the defendants. Lawyers for the defendants also filed documents Friday in St. Louis County seeking to recoup from Metro $28 million for costs of the trial, which ran from August to November. Testimony disclosed that Metro had incurred $17 million in case-related costs as of mid-October. Vossmeyer will receive one year’s pay as part of his termination. The move came one day after Metro CEO Larry Salci was removed from his position.